I called the Cadillac toll-free customer service number earlier today, and a pleasant-sounding voice identifying himself as “Christopher” answered. I could tell from his accent and demeanor that he was Filipino (later in the call, when I told him that I’d been to the Philippines often on business, he confirmed that he was in Manila). Now, maybe it’s wrong of me to feel this way, but I have to admit that I prefer Filipino customer service agents to American ones by a factor of 3:1, and I prefer them to India-based agents by a factor of approximately googolplex:1. I think the IRS and Social Security offices should outsource their call centers to the Philippines. But that’s a subject for a “Rant” blog post, and this one’s a “Rave,” so I’ll move on.

I informed Christopher that I was getting a read error with the navigation disc in my wife’s 2008 Cadillac Escalade. The nav disc is the original one (dated 2007). After some standard questions, such as my VIN, phone number, confirming that the disc was clean and scratch-free, Christopher put me on hold for a few minutes. He asked if I’d be able to take the disc to the dealer to confirm it was defective. I replied that I’d really rather not drive all the way there to confirm something I already knew. He put me on hold again, then came back on the line and informed me that Cadillac would be sending me a brand new updated 2012 version of their nav disc free of charge. That’s the same disc that NavTeq is asking $220 for on their website. Free. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Booyah.

Just as Christopher informed me of my good fortune, there was a loud cheer from a group of people in the background at his call center — I suspect some sort of employee party was going on, or maybe they were watching a replay of a Manny Pacquiao fight. 🙂 In any case, it was way too loud for either of us to ignore, so I laughed and said “Wow! Those guys sound really excited about me getting a free disc!” Without missing a beat, Christopher replied “Yes, sir. They are celebrating your good news!” Christopher says I should have my new disc within a couple of weeks.

So today’s rave is about General Motors getting it right by having someone in the Philippines answer the phone, and keeping customers of their luxury line of cars happy by dropping a disc full of goodwill in the mail without a fight. Way to go, Detroit.

Nice taste in vehicles :). I am a huge car nut (was driving in Stock Car races since I was 14 in TX, where you can get a license with a sig from a Guardian and a few laps to show you can drive :), and rebuilding motors since i was 10 (same race team). I was a line tech for a while at a Toy Dealership which still in HS, and they went full time once I graduated (94), and after all of the guys talked me into not making it a career unless I wanted to lose fingers and have every part of my body messed up by the time I was 40, I joined the Nuke Navy to serve my country (the other thing I really wanted to do), and they made me a mechanic on Nuke reactors :D. Anyway, been working on cars ever since, I buy rare exotics, rebuild them, enjoy them for a few months, and flip them for a decent profit, can’t beat extra income for having fun! Now that I have gotten the pointless part of my post over, I was very sad regarding domestic cars in the 80’s and 90’s, relative to the competition in pretty much every category they sucked compared to the other brands :/. But NOW, it is like a whole new industry, they really reinvented themselves, I am SO PROUD of our companies in Detroit, Ford has come out with come incredible motors and cars, GM, Chrysler, etc. They are like new companies that are not only in the running, they are taking over some segments! Take the Caddy CTS-V (second generation), which set the WORLD RECORD for a sedan on lap-time around the HARDEST TRACK IN THE WORLD, the Nürburgring , something an American car company has NEVER done, that honor was always a German car maker (BMW, Audi, Porsche, etc). Of course the Porsche Panamera came out not long after and did it faster, but it costs 5 times as much, so in my mind the CTS-V is still tops :). It is great to hear their customer service has not suffered (actually gotten better!) too, GO DETROIT!!!